Planet Earth, features and articles | Educational Science

Jan 30, 2024

A perfect storm of factors is causing major East Coast cities to sink. What are they, and can we do anything about it?

The idea of our major cities gradually sinking into the earth sounds like the plot of a science fiction movie. But research shows that some of the most densely populated urban areas in the United States, like New York City and Miami, are descending into the ground at an alarming...

Jan 30, 2024

Mass starvation after nuclear war could be partially averted with one specific food — seaweed

Scientists have discovered a surprising alternate food source that could save a huge number of lives in the aftermath of a catastrophic nuclear war — seaweed. A Nuclear war would plunge our planet into a deep nuclear winter. In the worst-case scenario, a nuclear exchange between the U.S. and Russia...

Feb 2, 2024

Major 'magnetic anomaly' discovered deep below New Zealand's Lake Rotorua

New maps have revealed a hidden hydrothermal system beneath a legendary lake in New Zealand, which serves as the setting for a famous Māori love story. Lake Rotorua sits at the heart of a massive ancient crater of a dormant volcano on New Zealand's North Island. The lake has a...

Feb 21, 2024

27 weirdest things on Google Earth

There are many, many weird things seen on Google Earth. The service, which was launched in 2005, compiles images from various sources, from satellites in geosynchronous orbit that snap low-resolution photos from tens of thousands of miles above Earth, to satellites closer to Earth that capture higher-resolution shots, and even...

Feb 23, 2024

Thawing Arctic permafrost could release radioactive, cancer-causing radon

Thawing permafrost in the Arctic could release radon, a radioactive gas that has the potential to cause cancer, scientists have warned. The permafrost that keeps the ground frozen year-round in the Arctic acts like a cap that prevents a variety of gases from bubbling up into the atmosphere. The most...

Feb 29, 2024

Striking new satellite images show Indonesia's new jungle capital taking shape

Striking NASA images capture the birth of Indonesia's new jungle city on Borneo as the country looks to move its sinking capital. The satellite shots from April 2022 and February 2024 show a network of new roads on the landscape and the construction of buildings in eastern Kalimantan, where Indonesia...

Mar 1, 2024

Weird dent in Earth's magnetic field is messing with auroras in the Southern Hemisphere

A bizarre dent in Earth's magnetic field above the southern Atlantic Ocean weakens the southern lights, new research finds. The South Atlantic Anomaly is a large, oval-shaped region over South America and the southern Atlantic Ocean where Earth's magnetic field is weakest. The anomaly is already well known for allowing...

Mar 1, 2024

East Coast cities are sinking at a shocking rate, NASA images show

NASA satellite images show the shocking speed at which the land is sinking beneath major U.S. cities, including Baltimore, New York and Charleston. The images, revealed by NASA Earth Observatory on Feb. 20, show land movement across the East Coast, with areas in dark blue sinking at the fastest rate....

Mar 5, 2024

Equinox: Definition, facts & when the next equinox begins

The March equinox is almost upon us, with spring about to begin in the Northern Hemisphere, and fall commencing in the Southern Hemisphere. Equinoxes occur twice a year, with daylight and darkness being about the same length in both the Southern and Northern Hemispheres. This phenomenon's name comes from the...

Mar 8, 2024

Amazon wildfires could burn at unprecedented scale as El Niño and drought make rainforest 'more flammable'

The Amazon may experience unprecedented wildfires this year that could severely damage its vital ecosystems, experts have warned. Record-high temperatures, severe drought conditions and the El Niño weather phenomenon have combined to make the Amazon more flammable, Bernardo Flores, a researcher at Brazils Federal University of Santa Catarina, told Live...

Mar 14, 2024

'Imagine a lush tropical island slipping beneath the waves': Drowned island the size of Iceland found off Brazil

In 2018, Brazilian and British scientists were exploring the seafloor around a volcanic plateau known as the Rio Grande Rise when they spotted rocks that looked like they belonged on dry land. Watching video relayed from their remotely operated submersible 650 meters (2,100 feet) below the surface, unusual red clay...

Mar 15, 2024

Oldest evidence of earthquakes found in strange jumble of 3.3 billion-year-old rocks from Africa

Scientists have found signs of some of the earliest known earthquakes in 3.3 billion-year-old rocks. The rocks provide early evidence of plate tectonics, which explains Earth's crust as split into large plates that glide across the mantle. The rocks also point to what conditions may have been like when life...

Jun 17, 2021

'Heat dome' scorches western US with record-breaking temps

Temperatures in Death Valley, California, hit a scorching 122 degrees Fahrenheit (50 degrees Celsius) Tuesday (June 15), short of the all-time record for this spot at the lowest elevation in North America but more than 10 degrees hotter than the average high temperature at this time of year. The broiling...

Jun 21, 2021

Why is humidity so uncomfortable?

On hot and humid days, your skin might feel sticky and overheated, and the air can feel so heavy that breathing becomes a chore. But what is it about humidity that can make the outdoors feel so stifling? The answer is that high humidity can make us feel hotter than...

Jul 7, 2021

June 2021 smashed heat records in North America

If the melting power cables in Portland, Oregon, weren't enough of an indication, new satellite data confirms what many sweat-drenched Americans could have guessed: June 2021 was the single hottest June on record in North America. The new data comes courtesy of the European Union's Copernicus program, which produced climate...